Within The Storm
by Onyx-Wildcat
Summary: After ten years, side by side, Jack senses something…hidden in Riddick’s luminescent gaze. She can’t tell him how she feels; how would it help? But the way he’s been acting…makes her wonder… Finished.
1. Prologue

**Title:** Within the Storm  
**Author:** Onyx Wildcat  
**Chapters:** 4-Finished  
**Rating:** M/R  
**Characters: **Riddick/Jack  
**Warnings:** Harsh Language, Slight Horror, Nudity and Angst  
**Feedback:** Not Required, but Always Very Welcome.  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything that pertains to the Riddick Universe. This is merely for non-profit entertainment for other writers/readers who enjoy the 'What If' pondering when thinking of Riddick and all his Riddick goodness.  
**Summary: **_After ten years, side by side, Jack senses something…hidden in Riddick's luminescent gaze. She can't tell him how she feels; how would it help? But the way he's been acting…makes her wonder…_  
**Onyx's Note:** I wrote this awhile back and finished it 10'9'09, then decided to go back do some editing tonight, 12'8'09 and decided to finally post it. I think back on it now, and at the time…I wasn't sure if it was good enough to be posted. Now after re-reading it as if it were the first time doing so…when I finished, I was really surprised at myself, but of course, never being truly sated, I had to do s'more editing. *laughs* I'm a dork, I know :D So…on that note, I thought everyone would enjoy this 'what if' story I came up with…which I think is interesting when it comes to a Jack and Riddick story. Anyhoo, on that note…as always… Enjoy!  
* * * * *

* * *

**-Prologue-**

The pain swelled and swirled, weaving, suffocating…she could feel it burning inside, the warmth an unwelcome heat, scolding the crevices of her spirit, reminding her she was nothing more then a defiant speck in the vast Black.

She walked, the storm overhead relentless in its rhythm as rain pelted down in warm wet sheets…her boots thwapping against the slick pavement, eyes forward but unfocused… Her gaze open but empty, a haunted woman peering through the slivers of a broken mirror, walking without a cause… Alone… Homeless.

As she ventured into the thick shadows swelling all around her… Her mind drifted back to the moment everything, somehow…

…fell apart…

**-End Prologue-**


	2. Part 1

**-*Five Hours Earlier*-**

It had been lingering in her mind all morning and bled into the afternoon; like the fading rays of the two soft glowing suns that fell off into the darkness of night… It stayed with her. The planet they had called home; low light conditions with the ever present and sometimes strongly persistent, storms and rainfalls, making it cold, wet and generally downright unlivable. But to her and her Hero, it was a delicate paradise, hidden from those who would peer too closely at the faces that ghosted by.

Not many wandered freely in this cold void of a planetoid. So small and insignificant, but large enough for lost travelers to stay a spell before pushing off back into the Black. Very few remained…only the strongest, the ones hell bent on survival.

Their perfect refuge from all the light and the noise…everything they'd come to hate…

She looked up at his powerful silhouette as she sat at the small dining room table, and he, strong and silent, leaned against the wall, giving her only the left side of his profile, his arms held against his broad chest, his head turned to the right while looking past the shadowed living room toward the open window.

The dark drapes swelled and danced as a cool, moist breeze fluttered through the slight crack in the window, secured behind several, three inch thick steel bars that guarded the outside from curious thieves.

Clearing her throat in silence, she gathered herself and began to speak, "Riddick." It was just one word, his name…always haunting the very crevices of her mind…which she said softly, fearfully…knowing this could no longer be avoided, "there's somethin'…" she paused and tried again, "look, we gotta talk."

Silent, he turned his body toward her, the shock of his blue silver gaze causing her chest to tighten, no matter how many times he'd looked at her in the dark. "What about." He stated with that low, reverberating growl and appeared as cold and as calm as a stone sentinel amidst a graveyard. Not surprising, he was always calm and contemplative just before a new storm, as though the charge in the air spoke to him.

She took a deep breath. _Easy Jack, easy…don't fuck this up_. She said inwardly, hoping with everything her voice would come out strong. "Well…" she trailed off, knowing he was listening. "How long has it been Riddick? Our situation, I mean."

He was quiet for a few moments when his gravely tone echoed from his expressionless face, "Ten years."

Jack nodded, mouth pursed in thought. Gods help her, she didn't want to say what was a breath away from spilling past her dry lips…but she had to do it. "In all these years…" she trailed off, unable to stop the painful ball of anxiety that had welled up and lodged itself in the back of her throat.

The softness in her words had gotten his attention. Jack wasn't actin' like her usual cocky self. There was somethin' different about her…it was written in the lines of her posture; the slight slouch in her shoulders, the way her hands appeared apprehensive as she fidgeted nervously with the silver panther ring on the middle finger of her right hand. The very faint scent of salt from the tiny beads of sweat that began to form over her upper lip and along her brow.

_What's goin' on in that head'a'yours kid? _He thought to himself, his internal dialogue and emotions completely different from the dark serenity of his surface. He knew she was hinting at something…a familiar somethin' he himself had been avoiding…but lately, not completely. If anything, Riddick had been dancing dangerously along a razor's edge of curiosity, wondering why it was that he was becoming…ever the more drawn to her. He hadn't fought it like he should have. Perhaps he just didn't feel it was necessary to. Perhaps a deeper level of his psyche had a perfectly rational explanation for his blooming affection for her.

She was no longer a kid, a child. In fact, after ten years of spending so much time together, he'd witnessed her become the woman now sitting across the room. She had a sharp mind, a keen instinct and one helluva mouth on her. She could dish out as good, if not better than he could. Sometimes stumping him completely into impressed silence. He loved that fire she held in her eyes, that spark that he himself shared. That pure, unrestrained defiance to face anything and everything head on. To never give up…never surrender.

There was somethin' else… Riddick had seen her as a slightly annoying, but always entertaining kid sister…at first. But believe it or not, after about, four years of watching her go from a teenager into a young woman, he noticed a change. She'd stopped clinging to his every move, his every word and started to do her own thing. And even to this day he'd flat out deny it…though inwardly, he'd found himself hurt that she'd lost her hero worship of him…and had actually found himself seeking her out, because he'd missed her presence. He'd missed their childish spats and endless banter, always pushing to see who was faster, funnier or at times, the most vulgar when they'd verbally duke it out. Or when they were sparing and training in the dojo, hidden inside the basement of their shared space. There was always a challenge with her…and he loved every minute of it. She kept him sharp, on his toes…even on the occasional morning he'd have to pause before going down the hall, awaiting a surprise pillow attack.

Of course he could never share these thoughts with her. He had to keep her at a distance, purely for her safety, because he never knew when the proverbial shit would hit the fan. Nothin' good lasts forever. Nothin'…not ever.

Like some wannabe bad-ass character way back before his time in a movie said, "I live my life a quarter mile at a time…and for those few seconds or less, I'm free." Nothin' made more sense to him than that quote…

So why was there a new, and constant nagging in the back of his calculated mind? Why was it, now after so many years in tight quarters…now when they had a bit more freedom, spending five years on this cold rock they called a home… Why was it that now, he was startin' to… Feel again?

Riddick slipped across the room, pushing his inner chaos of dialogue aside. His footsteps echoless against the cheap tile when he closed the distance between them and sat himself down directly to her right. Jack seemed to physically cower in his presence…which was something he was not used to. "Jack, stop beatin' around the bush." He exclaimed in a low timber and searched the lines of her face, the distinct scent of fear dancing away from her pores. "Spill it."

Jack closed her eyes, gathered her courage and gave him her gaze, her chest tightening with each frantic breath. "In two months time, Riddick, I'll be Twenty-Six." She said and paused, surprised at the sudden strength in her voice, "and I'm curious about somethin'…"

What he said next, made her head hurt. "And you're wonderin' why it is that we've never been more than friends," he narrowed his eyes, "correct?"

All the air rushed out of her and all Jack could do was simply, and effectively, nod in response.

Despite the truth living inside the pulsing warmth of his heart… The cold, calloused and unforgiving darkness took over. "You're almost Twenty-Six, sure. But if you think there's somethin' between us? You've got a helluva lot more growing up to do, Kid."

The pure gall he had to make such a fuckin' statement…when they both knew how false it was as it hung in the air, bloated like a corpse floating out in the Black. It not only hurt her, but royally pissed her off. Instead of allowing some of that boiling anger to surface…she threw Riddick a curveball…

His stomach tore itself apart as he witnessed the color drain from her face, no matter how hard she'd tried to fight it. They sat in the silence that followed…his eyes watching her with a sharp interest, knowing that what had come from his lips…wasn't something easily taken back…

Riddick knew he'd just royally fucked up.

Amazingly, Jack had the grace to remain calm, proving to him that there was a woman in his presence as her voice conveyed the strength she had deep inside. "So…" she smirked, her eyes cold, "that's it then." Was her low, empty reply.

Before Riddick could make any kind of response, his heart screaming out to stop her and to finally fucking tell her that he was wrong…that he hadn't meant what he'd said…that what he wanted wasn't safe, it would only kill her in the end… Because everything he'd ever loved was taken from him, and he didn't know if he'd be able to live with himself if he loved her…and be forced to watch as she was swallowed by the demons of his past.

But his pride kept his mouth securely shut as Jack nodded as if confirming something to herself, rose and walked out of the room. He remained where he was when she gathered her keys and went for the door.

His gravely timber filled the tense air, "it's gonna rain." he exclaimed, when in his mind he added, _god damn it stay. Don't leave…I ain't finished…we ain't finished…Shit Jack, wait…I'm sorry_.

But the words never came…

She paused, her back facing him, head slightly to the left and replied, "always does." and with that…she left, the door closing and locking with the barest of sound…

Riddick sat within the empty room, the silence blossoming around him as the breeze from the window became an angered wind and after a few seconds, the growl that welled up in his chest, spilled forth, followed by him grabbing the edge of the table and with a mighty swing of his powerful arms, proceeded to throw it across the room where it ended up in several different pieces.

At a loss, he merely stood there and looked at his hands. He couldn't believe what he'd said to her when just last night…

Before he realized it, he'd backed up enough to slump back against the counter…those same hands coming to his head as he sucked in a sharp breath at the pressure invading his chest.

Richard B Riddick, Escaped Convict, Murderer…had found himself at an emotional crossroads…praying for some kind of redemption.

Too little too late, seeing as that very redemption had just left…and though he had fought, fought to cage himself…the beast was free; humanity shimmering within his tear stained depths…

But Jack wasn't there to see it…

**-End Part One-**


	3. Part 2

-***Presently*-**

She continued walking, not realizing that she'd turned into an alley…far from the safety of her home. The walls rose around her, ominously, as though whispering in warning. But she didn't hear it. She'd stopped caring the moment she'd heard the emptiness in his voice.

All the times they'd trained together, most recently in fact… How much closer he gotten when they grappled, the heat of his breath seeming more sporadic, the look in his shined eyes appearing more intense. As though being as close as they were, was doing something to him.

She'd shrugged it off. At first…

But again, it was all recent that she'd noticed things, little things. When he'd look at her, a little longer…a little more intensely. The smile that would dance across the valley of his full lips, lingering a little longer, which became a familiar sight… The way he'd randomly tickle her into a fit of giggles after bickering over what to watch for the night. Then after struggling for breath, his massive frame hovering above her, pinning her to the ground, or the couch… His body so much closer, pressing flush against her…his nostrils would flare and he'd clear his throat before sitting up.

The way he'd brush against her when he walked past her, didn't matter where they were or what they were doing… Riddick always found a way to touch her somehow, no matter how brief the contact. And Jack had noticed it.

But she'd never advanced, or even hinted she wanted more. She loved him, with heart and soul, but she never told him. He was the most important person in her life, her best friend. That's the way it's always been. Jack was a smart woman, no need to fuck up a good thing, right?

So what happened? What the hell changed?

Jack walked, hands hidden in her pant pockets as rain soaked her through. She didn't feel it…her mind reeling, her chest tightening so painfully from the emotions she held inside…that it almost hurt to breathe.

And last night…if that wasn't something…than what was it?

-***Last Night*-**

She'd had one of her old night terrors, but had kept the scream from tearing from her lips when she shot up in the dark. It had to have been around 3am when she stumbled out of bed wearing her favorite dark blue tank top and two sizes too big black sleep pants and trotted into the kitchen. Her hair had been a severe mess, which was pulled into a sloppy bun on the back of her head, some of the waves falling into her face. She had ignored it, went straight to one of the cupboards and pulled out a fresh bottle of Johnny Walker; her favorite Scotch-Whiskey, popped the blue top and took about four full shots straight from the bottle.

Which, had Riddick seen this, would've chided that drinkin' like that would scare a sailor.

She had stood there for awhile, allowing the warmth to spread from her chest through the rest of her body, her skin still cool from the thin sheet of sweat that had formed as she slept. The wailing screams began to fade from her head, but every time she closed her eyes…she could see that eyeless hammerhead breaking through the white bone that she'd rolled beneath all those years ago…

She could still see the shimmer along the razor like teeth as its jaws unhinged in a gruesome fashion…it's twin tails whipping behind it…

"Fuck." Jack growled out in a rough tone, harsh from the screams trapped in her dry throat and from the unrelenting burn of the strong liquor. She was usually on guard, no matter where she was. And that wasn't due to Riddick's influence, that was something instinctive she'd had since she was just a small child. Which explained her survival to this point.

But in that moment of blinding horror, sleep heavy but flooded with her heart racing, knowing it was going to be insomnia, she hadn't sensed his presence as he stepped silently on bare feet into the kitchen, his eyes piercing the darkness.

"You alright?" His devastating octave inquired and watched as she planted her hands against the kitchen counter, her spine bowed, head down.

Jack managed to seek out her voice; a floating firefly amidst a pitch black void. "Ya…just needed somethin' strong to knock some sense into me." She replied in a hoarse voice, followed by swallowing another small ball of painful memories from her throat.

Riddick's eyes shifted to the bottle, noting how much she actually kicked back and brought his gaze back to her. His brow slightly raised in question. Only one thing could get her to drink like that… "Thought you stopped havin' nightmares." He stated, his growl softer as his internal worry tried in vain to form on the surface of his calm expression.

Jack had caught the difference in his voice and felt her brows knit together in confusion. As soon as the emotion slipped through her, it was swept away by the strength of the alcohol spreading heat through her veins. Suddenly, she just didn't care. "Same here," she added to his statement, a smirk pulling at her lips as she turned and slumped back against the counter, arms bent, elbows resting against the cool counter behind her.

Riddick made a quick sweep of her body; pajama's, barefooted, the chaos of her hair and the haunted look in her eyes as she peered down at her feet. He also noted the beginnings of dark circles…which meant there was no way she was goin' back to sleep without...

"Remember the last time I had one?" Her soft voice broke him from his thought process, causing him to cross the room and stand directly in front of her, his gaze pouring down onto her exhausted face like intelligent starlight.

Jack brought her eyes to his, slightly glazed by the liquor swimming through her veins. "How I couldn't sleep for days until you literally had to lay down by me until I fell asleep?" She asked again, reminiscing about that night seven years ago.

Nineteen at the time, her and Riddick had bonded rather well, and that was the night she'd began to lose her 'hero worship' of him… Only because for almost a week, she'd been unable to sleep. Riddick had taken it on himself to pick her up, dragged her into His room and held her in his arms and basically told her to try to sleep.

Riddick held a slight smirk at the memory of that night and replied, "helluva fight you gave me back then."

She nodded and ran a hand over her head out of habit, a few more waves of hair falling into her face as she rested her arm back onto the counter. "You were so pissed." She murmured and let out a laugh, looking toward the living room but not really focused, "I thought you were gonna kill me."

His brow knitted together at that statement. "Thought about it," he mused in a light growl only Jack could decipher as warmth and met her gaze, "guess I should've done that in the first place."

"What? Kill me or Hold me?" She asked, her brow furrowed this time and witnessed a strange kind of emotion dance through his luminescent irises.

Riddick smirked, "Hold you." He replied in a gruff tone and didn't stop the warmth that began to show in his eyes.

Jack let the moment slide by, taking it in but not calling him on it and shrugged and chimed, "ya well, I didn't know that's what I needed and you had to figure it out for me." She smiled and patted him on his upper left arm with her right hand, "no worries Big Bad."

They stood there for a moment, just…gazing into each others eyes. Jack figured it was the strength of the Johnny Walker in her system that caused her to keep his gaze… What she didn't know was that Riddick couldn't stop looking at her…as though some part of him wanted to savor this moment…

His husky timber brought her back, "Guess you're crashin' with me tonight."

She blinked a few times, wondering if she was suddenly very drunk. "I'm sorry, say again?" She asked and he could tell she had a hard time believing what he'd just suggested. So she added, "I think I had a bit more Johnny Walker than usual…"

Riddick chuckled deep in his chest, a half smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You heard right." He mused and watched her blink confused eyes up him, "you're not gonna make me pick you up and carry you again, are you? Cuz Jack…" he trailed off to use the fingers of his right hand to gently move those wayward strands from her eyes and tucked them behind her left ear, "I don't need you blowin' chunks down my back."

This caused a laugh to bubble and roll past her lips, the kind of laugh he loved to hear. "Well, damn Riddick…" she began to say and giggled, shaking her head at him, "when you put it like that, I don't have a choice. Do I?"

He made a thoughtful face, a slight grin curving his full lips and shook his head, "Nope." He said and held his paw of a hand out to her, "ready?"

Jack smiled and took his hand, noting how warm it was against hers and took a few steps forward, lost her balance and fell against him…suddenly very aware of the fact that his arms had enveloped her, pressing her flush against the naked flesh of his firm chest. She audibly gulped and straightened, unable to look up into his eyes, "Uh…wow. Guess I must've drank a bit more than I thought." Jack explained sheepishly and broke out into a yawn.

Riddick remained as collected as ever, though inwardly…he felt something thunder just a little faster. "C'mon gorgeous." He growled, deeper than he'd meant to, but just played it off when he helped Jack from the kitchen, into the hallway and toward his bedroom which was the last one of the left; largest bedroom in the whole house.

Carefully, he'd brought her to his king sized bed, got on and pulled her into his arms so that she was curled up on her right side, her head on his chest, ear pressed against his steady heart beat while her legs draped over his. He managed to pull just the sheets up and over them and rested back against his many pillows.

He listened to her breathing, sensing an overwhelming calm washing over her by this simple act of affection. But there was something else…he felt something, deep inside…

Secretly… He'd needed this too.

He waited as her breathing became soft and shallow, and when he was certain she was completely passed out…Riddick leaned down and pressed his lips against the top of her head, lingering there so he could breathe her in…the sweetness, the closeness of her.

With a deep, satisfied growl… Riddick followed her lead, and fell asleep.

**-End Part Two-**


	4. Part 3

-***Presently*-**

Jack rounded another corner, getting closer to home…and smirked. She remembered feeling him kiss the top of her head. She was just on the edge of sleep when he did that. So how in the hell could he have made that comment? Did he really think she was That stupid? The fuckin' nerve…

She let out a sigh as a flash of blue light licked the heavens, reminding her of his eyes…and growled when her chest tightened once again. "Damn it." Jack snapped under her breath, not caring that she was drenched from the rain and decided when she saw the familiar silhouette of her…_home_…she was going to go straight for that Johnny Walker and drink enough to put her into a coma.

Jack continued in her movements, her footfalls against the wet pavement almost silent, head clouded with a train of thoughts as she hit the familiar structure, made her way by auto pilot toward the front door, unlocked the deadbolt and peeled the door open. Disregarding the fact that she was completely soaked through, she closed and locked the door behind her, tore off her boots and proceeded, bare foot, straight into the kitchen. Leaving a trail of water droplets in her wake…

Not realizing that Riddick was just in the hallway; a shimmer of blue silver reflecting in the shadows.

Just as she brought the Johnny Walker from its place in the cupboard, she felt him slip into the kitchen with no sound or indication he'd ever moved. She could just feel it, "don't." was Jack's sharp comment as she twisted off the top, threw her head back, wet mane of hair trailing down her back in dark waves and had about five full gulps of the mind numbing substance.

Riddick's brow quirked at the sheer will power she had at consuming not only that harsh scotch whiskey straight, but that she'd managed to do so without even breathing out a hiss to catch her breath; that shit had to sting like a sonuvabitch…and she showed no indication of discomfort.

Jack took a moment to let the poison slither a course of fire through her veins, took a deep breath, let it out and proceeded just two more gulps and paused, considering draining the entirety of the contents when the bottle was quickly snatched away.

She turned and was met with burning blue fire. "Ain't done yet." Jack growled in an octave she wasn't used to hearing coming out of her own mouth.

Riddick just glared down into her vibrant eyes, threw his head back and finished off the rest of the contents… All eight huge mouthfuls of Johnny Walker's finest.

Jack blinked at him, "fine." she clipped between clenched teeth and was shivering, due to the chill that crept into her bones but didn't quite feel it. The anger had swirled through her senses had dwindled any discomfort or pain she may have been feeling.

"You need to get out of those wet clothes." Riddick stated in a harsh timber, which to Jack…sounded more strained than she was used to hearing.

She smirked, her eyes showing only anger, "and if I don't?" she chimed sarcastically, her gaze defiant as she placed her hands on her hips. "You gonna cut'em off me?"

"Don't tempt me." Riddick clipped in a short growl, and set the empty bottle on the counter.

Jack smirked and muttered, "ya…like you have the balls…"

This caught his attention, "What was that?" He snarled in a mixture of disbelief and sarcasm, unsure if she'd really just challenged him.

Angry eyes glared up at him beneath long, wet lashes. "You heard me," she shot back in a soft hiss and watched something slither behind his glowing orbs. "You don't have the balls and we both know it."

Riddick's jaw worked, his eyes narrowing just slightly when a strange kind of smile began pulling at his lips. "Lose the attitude, _Jack_…" he growled in a voice that was a warning all on its own.

Feeling the liquid courage burn through her veins, she decided to keep pushing. "Or you'll what?" Jack spat, taunting him as she narrowed her eyes at him.

Riddick slowly closed the distance between them, backing her against the counter and growled, "or I might."

"_Right_…" Jack scoffed, licked her lips and merely nodded, a nasty smile playing over her expression when she shot him a challenging glare and snarled, "do it."

"Say again?" Riddick snarled back and watched her eyes narrow into defiant slits.

"Did I stutter?" She shot at him in a soft purr filled with venom, "cut'em off me…" she paused to tilt her chin just enough to feel the warmth of his breath fan across her face, "I fuckin' _dare _you."

She witnessed his eyes shimmer with that strange emotion again…

When, within a blur of movements, Riddick had used one of his handmade shivs to slice apart her dark gray tank and her dark brown cargos… Jack only had that span of seconds to take in the air to gasp when the pieces fluttered away from her body and landed on the tile floor with a chorus of soft wet slops.

Suddenly there she stood, completely naked.

Seein' as Riddick forgot how…precise he was in his work…or maybe he just didn't care.

Johnny Walker is a tricky devil…

The heat rose in her chest, fanned over her neck, rose up her throat and spread crimson along her shocked features. But due to her unwavering defiance, no matter how fully humiliated she was, she merely glared daggers of pure hatred at Riddick, who standing in only a pair of his black cargo pants…had the funniest look on his face.

Jack felt her eyes soften at the intensity in his gaze…

Riddick, a man of sheer power and control… Had no idea what to do, or say, or even think as Jack, so obviously a woman, stood proud and fully naked in front of him. It was one of the first times in his adult life that he had to force back a strange kind of lump from his throat.

Again…that Scotch Whiskey is a tricky devil…and though both could drink anyone under the table… It still had a demonic effect on them…

Jack licked her lips, suddenly nervous and unsure of why the hell she felt heat surging just between her thighs at the look in his eyes. She was angry with him, livid being the better term…the nerve he had… Then again, she did challenge him and he was never one to back down from said challenge. So she deserved it, no matter how fucking vulnerable she felt. The alcohol mixed with her pig-headed-ness caused her to stand a little straighter, chin held high, chest out, shoulders back.

_Fuck him. He wants to think there's nothin' between us…let's see how he deals with this. _Her mind sneered as the world became slightly fuzzier, but she was too focused on proving him wrong…

Riddick tried to fight it…but he too had drank of that poison. A growl was beginning to boil within the depths of his powerful chest at the faintest aroma of something familiar gently dancing up and away from her body. He fought it, my god did he fight it. He fought the urge to take in a deep breath.

He wanted that taste in his mouth, savoring it…allowing it to drown his senses.

He knew her scent when she was aroused. Riddick had caught it on more than one occasion when they'd spar or when he'd pinned her beneath him after tickling her. And sweet jesus…what it did to him. Every muscle in his body would tense and the fight for self control had become harder and harder to win…

Now, facing her as bare as the day she was born…well, what man in his right mind would deny himself the one thing he'd been so desperately wanting for so fucking long?

Then again, Riddick has never been just any man.

Jack took a moment to step forward, literally pressing herself against him, her nipples gently brushing against the smooth flesh of his muscular upper body…and in that moment of shared heat, she felt him twitch…

…and just like that…he was gone.

The cool air danced down her heated skin, leaving her feeling more empty than she'd ever been as Riddick removed himself to his bedroom…the door slamming so hard Jack swore she felt the foundations of the house tremble.

"Figures." She growled in disgusted defeat, her motor functions slightly off due to the effect of the poison in her veins, and went about picking the pieces of her clothes up off the floor…

Yet…in a twisted way, she felt as though it wasn't pieces of cloth in her hands…but the bleeding fragments of her broken heart.

She threw them away and exited to the sanctuary of her room, closed the door quietly, curled up on her bed, the sheets pulled securely against her cold, wet, naked form…and shuddered as tears spilled from her depths…

Her soft crying into her pillow hadn't gone unnoticed like she'd hoped…

It was torture as Riddick stood at her doorway, his right hand coming up to place itself, palm flat…against the door. For moment he'd wondered why he thought he'd seen his hand do something it was never known for doing…

…it trembled.

**-End Part Three-**


	5. Part 4

* ***Twenty Minutes Later*** *

A scream peeled away from her lips as she shot up, sheets tangled, hair stuck wetly to her chest and forehead…

Another nightmare.

Blinking against the black of her room, the rain a steady patter against the roof of the house, she shivered and curled into a ball, wanting the hammerheads to stop swarming behind her eyes, their squealing wails reverberating through the intricate web of her mind…_so real_…_so real_…

She rocked back and forth, hands placed over her face when she felt the bed sink to her right. Jack went rigid.

Overwhelming warmth washed over her senses when a large body sank into the bed next to her, and before she had time to register what was happening, the alcohol still working through her system after her brief nap, someone pulled her into their arms. Without thinking, she'd turned toward this unknown person, and curled up against them.

But something was different… Something…was wrong…

Jack's brows furrowed at the feeling of something sharp gently digging into her back… The strange heated breath flowing over the top of her head in sickly sweet waves…

Fear pulsed electricity through her body like lightening. Her entire spine went rigid, causing her to sit up straight and brought her shocked expression to the thing she was cradled against…

"Wha…" she started to ask when jaws began to unhinge; rows of dagger like teeth catching the dim light like demonic razors…

A swell of sheer terror lodged itself in the back of her throat; stealing her voice, eyes wide in the dark…

Without warning she dislodged herself from the Hammerhead's grasp; watching it rise from the bed on its twin tails, wings unfurling, jaws opening and closing in a horrible fashion…as its soul devouring voice echoed into the back of her mind.

She scurried backward and ended up falling hard on her ass against the wooden floor, the sheet going with her as she fought to find purchase in attempt to stop her inevitable fall.

Minutes trickled by… The peeling high pitched screams of the Hammerhead slowly dwindling from her brain…she blinked.

Groggy and confused, her mind cloudy as pain surged along her tail bone, she pulled the sheet around her like a toga, her mane of hair falling wildly down her back and chest in tangled waves. Chest heaving, skin tingling with Goosebumps, she pulled herself up onto her feet, sheet clutched against her breasts with a white knuckled grip and brought her wide eyes to the bed.

"Holy fu…" The soft surprise in her whispered voice faded off into the darkness around her as she realized…

…there was nothing there.

It had been a dream. A very vivid, terrifying…dream.

She stood there, dumbfounded and felt her head begin to spin. With a low groan, she brought her left hand to her forehead when a soft knock sounded at her closed door, causing her to look over to her left and watched as the door opened enough to allow two glowing orbs of blue mercury to peer at her in concern.

"Heard a crash…" Riddick said in a rumbling growl, his large body filling the doorway as he pushed the door all the way open, "should I even ask?"

Her throat suddenly closed up and she was left to cough, swallow and had to remember how to speak again. "Uh…" her voice betrayed her as it danced away from her lips in a croaked whisper. Jack licked her lips and tried again, "nightmare…induced by the Johnny Walker."

He stood there, watching her holding her sheet tightly against her chest, her hair a majestic fall of waves that ended just above her waist. Riddick fought the urge to worry the inside of his bottom lip at the strange tightening in his chest…and pants…at the sight of Jack looking so…ethereal.

His face appeared serene… Though if you were to peer deeply into his luminescent gaze, you'd see the truth. "You were out for only twenty five minutes." Riddick stated simply and leaned to his left, arms held loosely against his powerful chest.

Jack nodded and trotted over to her small dresser, grabbed a black tank and a pair of loose gray pants to slip into. "Damn, guess I'm not sleepin' again." She announced sarcastically, her back facing him as she maneuvered the sheet to where she could slip the pants on and not flash Riddick her white ass in the process. Once secured, she dropped the sheet and slipped the tank over her head, "that Johnny Walker even effect you?" Jack asked while pulling the tank down and turned toward him, his face a portrait of secrets. Her brow furrowed, "what's with the look?"

"I find it funny that not a half hour ago you were standin' fully naked in front of me like you could give two shits of what I thought, and now you get dressed under a sheet." Riddick chimed in a low rumble and licked his lips, "how _interesting_…"

Jack suddenly remembered…and found the sleepy haze that filled her thoughts to have been pushed from her mind by a red film of blinding fury. "Ah…" She said in a lighter tone, a hint of arrogant disbelief staining her lips, "that's right, I dared you to do it…and you did…" Jack trailed off to close the short distance between them and brought her arms to rest loosely beneath her bust, "see here's the thing I don't get…"

Riddick narrowed his glowing irises at her and growled in a very unfriendly tone, "And what's that?"

Her face suddenly drained of emotion, her eyes cold and cynical, "When I touched you, givin' you an opening to be more specific… You ran away from me." Her words were laced with blades of resentment, and by the shimmer in Riddick's eyes, Jack knew she'd finally gotten to him. Or maybe it was just that damned Johnny Walker helpin' her along. She shook her head, "guess we know who's got the bigger pair in this fucked relationship."

Riddick was suddenly in her face, backing her up toward the bed, "The fuck did you just say to me?" Each word he snarled sent waves of warning down her spine…but Jack was done with fighting the truth. She was done with his silence and his god damned games.

"You deaf?" Her voice slapped him with the pain that lived behind her eyes, "what the fuck do you think I just said? Huh, _Riddick_?" She shot back, her tone low and as hard as steel, "you act like there's nothin' between us when obviously, there is! And if you just pulled that thick head outta your ass you'd fuckin' see it too…"

His face was completely stone…except for the slightest twitch in his jaw line as he clenched his teeth together. He did not like the tone she was using…but what he hated more, was how fuckin' right she was.

No sir, he didn't like it…not one bit.

Before Jack could do so much as blink, Riddick grabbed her, none too gently and forced his mouth on hers in a bruising kiss of anger. There was nothing gentle or loving about it…

Jack managed to wriggle out of his possessive grasp and felt the world spin when she clocked him hard across the jaw; the knuckles of her right hand slow to sting due to the fact that she was indeed, still drunk.

"What the fuck is wrong with you!" She damn near screamed at him when he merely turned, slowly, to face her… A dangerous, scolding blue fire echoing in his irises as he glared down at her.

Silence became a suffocating entity…

Muscles tensed… rage thick and venomous as it burned a course of heat through the veins…when he suddenly grabbed her wrists in one hand; his movements a complete blur, and pushed her back onto her bed, body firmly pinned against her. She was trapped under those blinding blue silver eyes.

"Riddick get…" Jack tried to protest, the panic welling up in her chest when he cut her off, the velocity of his voice taking the breath out of her lungs.

"Enough!" He almost shouted and watched the whites of her eyed become more evident…and it killed him to see that old terror in her gaze. But if he was going to get to her and do this right…it was now.

"You are going to shut the fuck up." He snarled and watched her jaws clench shut, her throat working as she swallowed hard. "Listen, very closely Jack," Riddick emphasized every word so that he was very clear, "we can't have what we want. It will complicate things." he stopped…not wanting to say what needed to be said…but somehow, that Johnny Walker had fueled the truth to pierce that cold surface, "Yes, I want you and yes, god damn it… I may…" The words left him…he'd meant to say, _I may be in with love you_…but they had died on his tongue before they touched his lips.

Forcing himself to keep going, he pushed on. "But just because I want somethin' doesn't mean it's good for me." He explained in that methodical timber and felt his heart ache at the look in her eyes.

"Don't get bent out of shape at what I'm sayin', because I ain't finished. Understand?" He added and paused to watch her give a shaky nod, tears beginning to shimmer unshed in the corners of her beautiful eyes.

He took in a breath and immediately wished he hadn't. Her scent, hot and thick filled his senses. Her fear of him overpowered the other gentle aromas of her…and he hated himself for it.

But this had to be done…no more hiding.

"I can't risk them usin' you to get to me. I will not allow that to happen. Period." Riddick explained when he saw a fight beginning to peer through her eyes… _I can't lose you_…his heart snarled in desperation, but again…his inner voice was no more than a defiant spec in the vast black of his mind…unable to get past the high walls of his dark soul…

"Like it fuckin' matters Riddick," Jack spat, her voice a whispered growl of defiance that made him stop himself from silencing her, "we've been through god knows how many screwed situations, but because we were together, we made it out." Jack paused to search his eyes, "Are you listening? It's been Ten Fuckin' Years Riddick…and I have more than once proved myself. And just for the record, I can hack it just fine on my own, but I haven't left." her eyes narrowed, "Have I?"

She was surprised at how strong she'd sounded…and even more surprised that he hadn't shut her up. Riddick had let her speak, had seemed to actually consider her words. Jack could see it in the strange look in his eyes…as if there was something hidden there…and something that wanted to break free.

The silence lagged…moving slowly, time an odd sluggish creature that seemed to swirl with whispered tensions not meant to be heard by those who might listen.

Jack finally blurted out, "Now would you shift your god damned weight? You're makin' it hard to breathe."

Riddick complied…but what he did made it even harder for her to take a breath.

He'd shifted alright… Placed his narrow hips between her thighs, released her wrists and placed his hands on either side of her body, his eyes focused too closely on hers.

Jack blinked…and audibly gulped.

A tremble ran through her rigid body when Riddick; all deadly power and control, gently…carefully, placed his right hand against the side of her face; left hand flat against the mattress, propping him up at the elbow and watched her bite back a confused gasp.

Why he was doing it…

…why he'd let himself do what he'd always wanted to do but couldn't…

Jack felt her heart flutter hard against her ribcage when he leaned down and brushed his full lips along hers. As though he was afraid…asking her for permission, but unable to get himself to go that extra inch…

Why she let it happen…why she finally gave in…

Her head rose just slightly, just enough…and they were locked in a tender kiss. There was uncertainty swirling through them, fear of what they'd been feeling but never acted on…

But at that exact moment it became terribly, painfully clear…

They'd been afraid for nothing.

**-_Fades to Black_-**


End file.
